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QUESTIONS FOR HASBRO at Conventions

Hasbro is going to be at conventions this year, and at some of them we're hoping to get one-on-one interview time. The first one coming up is New York Toy Fair on February 9th - with Toy Fair, there's not much chance we'll get any interview time, but just in case, we thought we'd open up the forum to submit questions here. If we don't get Q&A time at Toy Fair, we'll save the questions for the next opportunity which will probably be SDCC in July.

Voting is not needed as the questions will be chosen on an editorial basis, but feel free to voice any support for an existing question.

Unless an item is already confirmed by Hasbro, we definitely won't be asking questions about specific items. Also, please keep in mind that we'll be asking these in person, so keep questions respectful and reasonable.

Go ahead and voice support for these questions, and suggest your own:

- The 2013 Class II vehicle line is using all new tooling and going in a simpler direction, but is there still a chance of seeing more vehicles in the original, more detailed Class II style – perhaps as newly tooled exclusives or even as reissues from the vast tooling library you already have, as is currently being done for larger vehicles like the Republic Gunship and Slave I?

- Speaking of vehicle re-releases, the Naboo Fighter is a great one that many collectors missed due to the first wave of vehicles not selling well last year and the case being expensive and rare online. It's been appearing sporadically at discount stores, but might we still see it pop up somewhere in greater numbers, either as existing stock or a new run? It's too large for the new Class II line, but could it be repacked as an exclusive?

- So far the new Class II line has only consisted of resculpts of existing vehicles, but will we see any never-before-made ships there as well?

- With no new releases since the first wave in Spring, is the Class I line with two figures essentially dead?

- Even though we're getting some fairly sizable ships as exclusives, the repainted Slave I and AT-AT are the only large-size vehicles coming this year. Does the big vehicle line still have a future in new molds? It was said that the MTT's performance could determine what comes next - did it have any effect, positive or negative?

- The Clone Wars animated figure line and TV series are both more or less finished. What are the chances of continuing to see new characters done in the realistic style - either 3.75" Black Series or Saga Legends/Misson Series - or more vehicles from the series? So far, the realistic Clone Wars figures have been of characters that have already had several animated figures, but could the realistic lines be an outlet for new characters and designs, such as the Pong Krell and spider-Maul figures that were mentioned in previous Q&A sessions?

- With Star Wars Rebels premiering a little over a year from now, we won't ask details on tie-in products, but if you do decide to make figures for the show, has any thought been given as to whether the figures will be in the animated or realistic style? Will you be making this decision based on how well The Clone Wars animated figures performed, or is this something Lucasfilm and Disney will decide?

- The presumably-still-upcoming Mara Jade figure is wearing the same catsuit that has been made as a figure twice previously – and it looks like a fine figure in and of itself – but the Fans' Choice poll had an image of her wearing her green Jedi outfit, so that look is probably what many fans believed they were picking when they voted. Why was the choice made to make yet another version of this outfit as opposed to the one featured in the poll? Can we expect to see a figure in her green Jedi outfit?

- Late last year and earlier this year, several Movie Heroes and Clone Wars figures - including light-up Anakin and Sandtrooper, the blast-apart Battle Droids, etc. - were revealed and released internationally but not in the US. The Yoda-card figures have been made available by online retailers, but grappling-hook-jetpack Boba Fett and the tan exploding Battle Droid remain very scarce. Is there any plan to release any of them specifically to the US market?

- Why is the eye on the top back of astromech heads almost always being done wrong as it is on the 6" R2 figure, so it sticks straight up instead of angled back?

- Why do you use that chiffon/gossamer translucent black fabric for Darth Vader figures' cloaks and kama skirts when the Vintage Collection Sidious has a much nicer opaque black fabric for his robes and kama skirt?

- Some collectors are worried that the new 6" line will cannibalize resources that otherwise would have gone into making high-quality, super-articulated 3.75" figures. Is that going to be the case, or will collectors who have invested almost 18 years into collecting the 3.75" line and are NOT interested in starting again with a newly scaled line still have something to look forward to with the 3.75" Black Series?

- The initial plan for the first half of 2013 was to re-release hard-to-find 2012 figures from The Vintage Collection. It seems like a few more cases made it out, but were still few and far between, with many stores not stocking any more Vintage figures at all. So was this plan shelved or scaled back? You've said there won't be any straight repacks in The Black Series, but will we still be seeing more of the hard-to-find Vintage figures somehow?

- It's obviously too early to talk about the new films, but Disney has said that the new trilogy will take place after Return of the Jedi. Assuming that existing post-ROTJ expanded universe material isn't used in the new films, would the new films lower the likelihood of seeing figures from the existing post-ROTJ expanded universe, similar to how the Clone Wars micro-series material has been largely ignored in favor of the CGI series per Lucasfilm's request?

- We know that the Build-A-Droid line was cancelled since it would have been too expensive to include the droid parts without raising the price, but at what point in the development process did you know – or feel in your gut – that the new Build-A-Droid line was going to be canceled? What point in the process did it seem like things were going against it? Was there a single event that precipitated the line's cancellation?

- How long before the public announcement did you know that the 3D re-releases of Episodes II and III weren't going to happen this year? Obviously the line is still very heavy on the Episode II and III items this year, but did that cause you to have to change the line much, or were you already planning on scaling back after Episode I didn't do as well as you hoped?

- The Skylanders franchise has been surprisingly popular, and now we see that this kind of interactivity is coming to Star Wars with Angry Birds Telepods. You've focused on online gameplay previously and to a lesser degree with the web component for Fighter Pods, but is this level of figure-game interactivity something that you could possibly see expanding beyond Angry Birds, perhaps even to basic figures?

- The upcoming 41st Elite Corps Clone Trooper figure is missing several paint applications - the shoulders, hands, midsection, belt, and lower legs should all be gray, not white. Both previous versions of this clone have gotten these correct. Will this be fixed?

- TIE Pilot Backstabber was first shown last year, and we realized that the deco was incorrect - his helmet should have two Imperial logos, even though a shadow does briefly cover up the one on his right side, leading some to think that he only has one Imperial logo. Now that he's scheduled for release, will this issue be addressed?

- Are there any plans to release an Orray, the beast that carries the execution cart in Episode II? Were there plans for items like this that were intended for the 3D releases but had to be scrapped when the 3D releases were cancelled, and might they still make it out?

- Will there be a street date for the Black Series or any other line this Fall?

Obviously we're expecting them to address in their presentation what happened with The Legacy Collection 2 and what will be going on in the mainline come fall, so I wouldn't bother even writing questions on that subject.

Right now, I'm thinking about what happens to the Naboo Fighter;
what happens to that classic vehicle size - does it go away, does it continue on as exclusives, that's 5 decades of tooling library to just throw away;
can the brand continue to appeal to kids/casual consumers with figures at $10 a pop;
is Movie Heroes going to keep using inferior molds when there are better kid and collector molds available;
and how does the brand expect to keep existing retailer peg space with only Clone Wars as an active main line (that question is sort of redundant but I'd be curious to hear the thinking);

Those are the sorts of things I'd consider turning into questions I guess.

Darth Vader is becoming the Mickey Mouse of Star Wars.

"In Brooklyn, a castle, is where dwell I"

The use of a lightsaber does not make one a Jedi, it is the ability to not use it.

Something that came up in conversation when a friend mentioned finding "some EU guy" who turned out to be Nom Anor:

It's been 14 years (as of this summer) since the New Jedi Order series began. In that time, we've gotten six NJO figures (with the rumored Jedi Master Mara Jade being a seventh). Two of these were the Solo twins, who were in the TRU exclusive wave and impossible to find. One was a rather forgettable "old Luke" from an Evolutions set. Only two Yuuzhan Vong figures have ever been released; one being the hard-to-find Nom Anor, and one being a generic soldier from a two-pack with the NJO Kyle Katarn resculpt.

*Four Movie Heroes figures have been revealed at conventions and released internationally - light-up lightsaber Anakin, rappel-line jetpack Boba, tan exploding Battle Droid, and light-up blaster Sandtrooper - but none have been released in the US. The Sandtrooper and a maroon repaint of the Battle Droid were revealed at Celebration as coming in 2013, but what about the tan droid and the other two figures?

*The Endor AT-AT has been released internationally, but what is its status in the US? Why was it moved from its announced October date - did TRU already have enough big items between the Millennium Falcon, MTT, and older-yet-still-available big vehicles?

*The presumably-still-upcoming Mara Jade figure is wearing the same catsuit that has been made as a figure twice previously - and it looks like a fine figure in and of itself - but the Fans' Choice poll had an image of her wearing her green Jedi outfit, so that look is probably what many fans believed they were picking when they voted. Why was the choice made to make yet another version of this outfit as opposed to the one featured in the poll?

*With the new trilogy of films likely taking place in the same time as pre-existing EU material, do you foresee that post-ROTJ EU figures will become less likely (perhaps as a mandate from Lucasfilm/Disney, similar to how they wanted to focus on the CGI Clone Wars series as opposed to the 2D microseries)?

"How long before the official word did you know that Build A Droid 2013 was going to be canceled, both officially and in your gut?"

Is that too rough, or is that a fair question?

Originally Posted by JabbaJohn

*The presumably-still-upcoming Mara Jade figure is wearing the same catsuit that has been made as a figure twice previously - and it looks like a fine figure in and of itself - but the Fans' Choice poll had an image of her wearing her green Jedi outfit, so that look is probably what many fans believed they were picking when they voted. Why was the choice made to make yet another version of this outfit as opposed to the one featured in the poll?

Didn't they say they were going to do both?

Originally Posted by El Chuxter

Something that came up in conversation when a friend mentioned finding "some EU guy" who turned out to be Nom Anor:

It's been 14 years (as of this summer) since the New Jedi Order series began. In that time, we've gotten six NJO figures (with the rumored Jedi Master Mara Jade being a seventh). Two of these were the Solo twins, who were in the TRU exclusive wave and impossible to find. One was a rather forgettable "old Luke" from an Evolutions set. Only two Yuuzhan Vong figures have ever been released; one being the hard-to-find Nom Anor, and one being a generic soldier from a two-pack with the NJO Kyle Katarn resculpt.

So, any chance we might get another Vong or two at some point?

Question about this one, why should they be focusing on more NJO figures? What makes it more important to do now than, say, the Thrawn trilogy, or Legacy, or SOTE, or any other EU series? Is there a reason that would make this more important to do now?

Darth Vader is becoming the Mickey Mouse of Star Wars.

"In Brooklyn, a castle, is where dwell I"

The use of a lightsaber does not make one a Jedi, it is the ability to not use it.

No, and that was my confusion during the show. Derryl told the Curto-Burns podcast that this version was meant to combine both the Emperor's Hand and Jedi versions and hopefully satisfy fans; I misheard and thought he said they were doing both, but only realized the truth later upon re-listening.

The BAD question isn't, well, bad. But do we need to gain that knowledge, or would it just come off like we're harping on their failures? I'm leaning towards the latter.

No, and that was my confusion during the show. Derryl told the Curto-Burns podcast that this version was meant to combine both the Emperor's Hand and Jedi versions and hopefully satisfy fans; I misheard and thought he said they were doing both, but only realized the truth later upon re-listening.

The BAD question isn't, well, bad. But do we need to gain that knowledge, or would it just come off like we're harping on their failures? I'm leaning towards the latter.

Oh, ok, that's obviously no good then, thanks for the correction.

I'm curious as to what point in the process they knew that TLC2 was going off the rails, maybe even what event precipitated it. I'll take your comment under advisement to rework the question though, I'm not trying to harp on the failure, but explore the chain of events.

Darth Vader is becoming the Mickey Mouse of Star Wars.

"In Brooklyn, a castle, is where dwell I"

The use of a lightsaber does not make one a Jedi, it is the ability to not use it.

Are we going to see any kind of recognition of the 30th anniversary of ROTJ in 2013? It seems like Hasbro has forgotten about it completely.

"To be concerned about being grown up, to admire the grown up because it is grown up, to blush at the suspicion of being childish; these things are the marks of childhood and adolescence… When I became a man I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown up." - C.S. Lewis